With the prices of so many things we must buy, including gasoline and food, going up, most of us are feeling the financial pinch. Perhaps no one is more affected, however, than those who work as servers in restaurants.

One of those servers shared her plight with the Cordele Dispatch recently, and she told us some things we really had not thought about before.

First of all, it seems that restaurants are not bound by minimum wage laws because patrons are expected to make up the difference with their tips to servers. Sometimes, however, customers either don’t realize the importance of their tips to the servers or they don’t care, and the server comes up short.

The tip system certainly encourages servers to provide the best possible service. In exchange for that good service, we would encourage patrons to reward their servers with generous tips. Of course, if a server‚s service is consistently not up to par, then that server probably is in the wrong job and should be looking elsewhere for work.

Now, what about those servers who take your fast food orders and deliver those orders with everything just right? Shouldn’t they also get a tip for their efforts? Most of us probably never think about tipping them, but perhaps that should change.

We are offering these comments as food for thought. Next time you are eating out, try putting yourself in the shoes of the server and think about how you would like to be treated, then act accordingly.

(Written on behalf of the Cordele Dispatch by Peggy King).